Mammon, the latest in a new generation of must-see TV imports, is billed as State of Play meets All the President’s Men. The six-part conspiracy thriller, which starts on More4 next month, was a huge hit when it premiered in Norway in January and has made a sex symbol of lead actor Jon Øigarden. In the US, 20th Century Fox Television has already snapped up the rights to make its own version.

With its labyrinthine plotting and stripped-back characters,
Mammon is very much in the mould of Scandi TV hits The Killing,
Borgen and The Bridge, where the apparent equality, social justice
and liberalism of the Scandinavian model is seen to cover up dark
secrets and hidden hatreds.

But while those dramas tended to focus on strong, driven women,
Mammon is the story of a fraught relationship between two brothers
and the love/hate relationship people have with journalists.

Set over six days, it involves murder and sexual intrigue that
starts when a mysterious woman called "Sophia" sends news reporter
Peter Verås (Øigarden) computer evidence of a multinational fraud,
involving Norway's political and financial elite. This will
incriminate Verås's own brother, Daniel, who then commits suicide.
To his astonishment, Peter discovers that "Sophia" was actually his
brother.

The drama was created by real-life brothers Vegard and Gjermund
Stenberg Eriksen, who use the framework of a thriller to explore
why siblings might turn out so differently. Is Daniel really the
villain? Or is Peter, a respected investigative journalist,
actually the one with dark secrets? "We want to know where evil
comes from in a family," says producer Vegard.

The show has autobiographical resonance for the siblings. "We
chose to tell a more personal story because my brother and I are
very similar in some senses but are perceived quite differently,"
says writer Gjermund with a laugh. "When we enter a room, everyone
looks at my brother and goes, ‘What a nice guy, this is going to be
a fantastic day'. I have a different aura, so people go, ‘Well,
let's see how this goes'. My brother is four years older, the
mature one, and growing up I had to make a lot of noise to get
attention."

Vegard's own young sons, Emil and August, play Peter and Daniel
in the eerie childhood flashbacks that start each episode.

The brothers wrote the grown-up part of Peter for Øigarden, 41,
because he can play both brutal and boyish charm. "He'll be as
embarrassed as hell to hear it but I've always viewed him as a
young Jack Nicholson," says Gjermund. "He's a no bullshit guy."

For all the testosterone on screen, Mammon is directed by a
woman (Norwegian actress Cecilie A Mosli). "It gives the film a
feminine touch," says Øigarden. Fans of The Bridge's Saga Norén
will be drawn to fraud squad investigator Vibeke (played by the
androgynous Lena Kristin Ellingsen). But there are also good roles
for a pregnant news editor and Daniel's widow, who once dated
Peter.

Most of the action takes place in cultural and political capital
Oslo and hipster-town Bergen. Like Denmark, Norway is famous for
the clean lines of its buildings. The colour palette of the drama
is muted greys, greens and browns, reflecting the fjords and
mountains surrounding Oslo.

Mammon's soundtrack is by cult Norwegian composer Martin
Horntveth, best known as the drummer of Jaga Jazzist and The
National Bank. Though you'll be relieved to know Norwegians do like
practical knitwear (there are woolly jumpers aplenty to keep Sarah
Lund fans happy).

Oil-rich Norway. traditionally socialist, voted in a
centre-Right coalition government last September (the female prime
minister Erna Solberg is nicknamed "Iron Erna") and Mammon struck a
chord for Norwegians who don't trust the way journalism and
politics are increasingly dependent on each other, Vegard claims.
"Who you know is more important than what you do, and that's a big
problem for Norway."

WHEN the brothers first wrote the script, everyone told them it
was too bleak. But that was before the 2011 massacres by Anders
Behring Breivik on the island of Utøya. He claimed to be motivated
by an anti-Muslim and anti-multiculturalism agenda. "Now no one
thinks the script is too dark," says Gjermund.

Although Mammon doesn't directly reference the tragedy, there is
a subtext of alienation. "In the drama we look at how young men can
feel ignored or hurt by society — with fatal consequences," says
Gjermund. "After 2011 we know that darkness really can happen."

For all its modern setting, Mammon is shot through with
references to the Old Testament — from the biblical title to the
story of Cain and Abel. "In Norway we think we are very secular but
we are one of the most Protestant countries in the world," says
Gjermund.

To research the role, Øigarden hung out with journalists at the
Oslo tabloid newspaper Verdens Gang. "The plot is larger than life
but we needed to keep it down-to-earth to show it can happen
today," he explains. "Mammon literally means greed but it also
refers to the thing that you go for most in life — your greed to
find the truth, or stay away from it. And what will you sacrifice
for it in terms of family and relationships?"

A second series of Mammon has been commissioned in Norway — a
boost for original native drama in a country that tends to watch US
imports. Meanwhile British audiences can look forward to a new
twist in our love affair with Scandi noir.